IncidentThe 2019 Navy "Pyramid" & Sphere Videos (USS Russell / USS Omaha)

aka The 2019 Navy "Pyramid" & Sphere Videos (USS Russell / USS Omaha)

In July 2019 Navy personnel off San Diego filmed green night-vision footage of blinking 'pyramid'-shaped objects over USS Russell and FLIR footage from USS Omaha of a spherical object that appeared to drop into the sea; the Pentagon confirmed both authentic, and analysts (later AARO) identified the 'pyramid' as triangular bokeh - out-of-focus point lights through a triangular lens aperture - while the Omaha sphere remains less resolved.

disputed-optical-artifact The pyramid is, on the evidence, a demonstrated lens artifact - triangular bokeh of out-of-focus blinking aircraft/drone lights and stars - a conclusion reached independently by Mick West and effectively adopted by AARO/officials; its 'anomaly' status survives only the unresolved detail of which aperture produced it. The Omaha sphere is genuinely unresolved: authentic footage, plausibly a mundane balloon/drone/aircraft on FLIR, but lacking released metadata or recovery, with the 'transmedium'/descent framing resting largely on single-source claims. A high-confidence prosaic verdict on the famous pyramid and an honest 'insufficient data' on the sphere. Filed as a disputed optical artifact.

status history (1)

2026-06-14 · new → disputed-optical-artifact — seeded 2026-06-14 — corpus-growth pass (2021 disclosure-surge Navy footage; lens-artifact lesson)

▸ Deep dive — full timeline, named personnel, sensors, theory-by-theory analysis, and the conventional explanations weighed against the open questions →

The clips were leaked in 2021 via filmmaker Jeremy Corbell; Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough confirmed the USS Russell footage (a ~18-second green night scope showing three blinking pyramid-shaped objects) and the USS Omaha FLIR footage (a sphere darting above the water before vanishing beneath it) were genuine Navy recordings under UAP Task Force review. Skeptic Mick West demonstrated the ‘pyramid’ shape is triangular bokeh: point lights out of focus through a triangular lens aperture each blur into a triangle, with the 1.5-second flash interval matching standard aircraft anti-collision strobes and the stationary ‘pyramids’ being defocused stars; AARO/officials later endorsed the prosaic reading, tying the triangles to drones/aircraft in the area. The Omaha sphere is less resolved - plausibly a distant balloon/drone/aircraft on FLIR, with the ‘descent into the ocean’ an artifact of leaving the sensor’s field, and no confirmed splash or recovery (a single-source Corbell claim). A marquee modern-Navy case of the 2021 disclosure surge that is instructive precisely because the dramatic anomaly dissolves: authentic, Pentagon-confirmed military footage of a ‘UFO’ with a fully prosaic optical cause for the famous pyramid, and an honest ‘insufficient data’ on the sphere.

Notable & intriguing

The Pentagon confirmed both the USS Russell ‘pyramid’ night-vision clip and the USS Omaha sphere FLIR clip were authentic Navy footage; analyst Mick West demonstrated (and AARO later endorsed) that the ‘pyramid’ is triangular bokeh - out-of-focus blinking aircraft/drone lights and stars through a triangular lens aperture.

Pentagon (Sue Gough); Mick West / Metabunk; AARO
The USS Omaha sphere - reportedly ~6 ft on radar, appearing to drop into the sea - remains unresolved: plausibly a distant balloon/drone/aircraft on FLIR, with no released metadata and no confirmed splash or recovery (the submarine-search claim is single-source to Corbell).

Live Science; Mystery Wire; Jeremy Corbell (single source)

Public-record items already documented about this subject. Folklore is labelled. Sources cited where the specificity warrants it.

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